


Sychronized

by tridecaphilia



Series: The Timers Never Fail [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 23:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1282621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tridecaphilia/pseuds/tridecaphilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two timers being synched up to the millisecond was unheard of outside of soulmates, but Scott and Stiles broke that rule. And then a few others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sychronized

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure: I have never seen the actual movie Timer, and all my knowledge thereof comes from AUs like this one.

Scott and Stiles had met because of their timers. They’d been four years old and on the playground and had suddenly realized that their timers said the same numbers.

Two timers being synched up to the millisecond was unheard of. The only way that happened was if the two timers hit zero at the same time, and Scott and Stiles’ weren’t. So they just assumed it was a fluke. It made for a good conversation starter, though. And it made them fast friends besides.

As time went on, though, it was less fun to be synched up. Their timers still hadn’t hit zero, and the more they talked and the closer they grew, the more Stiles wished they’d hit zero that first day on the nursery school playground.

Stiles was not a patient person, to say the least. Especially when the time until he could stop waiting was still measured in years.

Then months.

Then weeks.

Then days.

~

The day the timer started counting down in hours, Stiles and Scott were totally and unashamedly ecstatic. As soon as they got to school, with seven hours and forty-nine minutes left, they started looking around, trying to find their soulmates, even though they knew they wouldn’t meet them until after school.

“Four hours to go,” Stiles said when they got to lunch.

Scott’s smile was bright and infectious and so constant Stiles was amazed he could close his mouth enough to chew. “Who do you think yours will be?” he asked. “What do you think they’ll be like? Do you think yours will be a guy or a girl?”

“Dude, I _so_ have no idea anymore.” Stiles had come out as bi three years ago, and Scott had admitted just a few months ago that he could see himself with a guy. Stiles wasn’t really sure at the time if that was just the excitement of no longer counting down in years that made Scott say that. You had to be ready for anything when you were going to meet your soulmate, right? “What about yours? What do you think they’ll be like?”

Scott shook his head. “I’m like you. I don’t know anymore and I’m not going to bother guessing. Whoever it is, it’ll be good. We’ll be good.”

“The timers never fail,” Stiles agreed. It was a common adage. Stiles had lost count of the times he’d heard it since the first timers in their class had started hitting zero, back in middle school. (Well, unless you were counting Lydia and Jackson, whose timers had hit zero in fourth grade when Jackson had moved to the school. Which Stiles didn’t, since both of them had somehow successfully hidden that fact for two full years until the next person’s timer hit zero.)

Scott nodded. “Never,” he agreed. But Stiles caught the way his eyes flicked toward the table in the center of the cafeteria. No doubt he was looking at Allison again. Scott had been convinced when he saw Allison that she was his soulmate, and when his timer hadn’t hit zero he’d looked like he was about to cry. When _her_ timer hit zero when she met Isaac Lahey it had been so much worse.

“Hey, you want to go to the mall after school?” Stiles asked to distract Scott. “Maybe we’ll find our soulmates there. Hey, maybe they’ll be twins. Twins shopping together. That would be something, huh?”

“You want to meet your soulmate at a _mall?_ You hate shopping,” Scott said, but he was grinning, so the distraction had worked.

“True. Maybe the library. Or, hey, better idea—the coffee shop.”

“What, you think your soulmate will be a hipster? The library is better.”

“No way, man. The library is where stuck-up geeks go to do their work.”

They went like that for a while, trading ideas and shooting them down. Then Stiles had a thought.

“What if we split up?” he asked. It was an idea. They’d always assumed they’d meet their soulmates together since their timers were synchronized, but maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they’d be separate.

Scott shook his head. “No way. We’ve done all the waiting together, we’re doing this part together too.”

Stiles tried to ignore the way his heart skipped at that. _Stop it,_ he told himself. _Scott isn’t your soulmate. You know that._

He rolled his eyes. “So where should we go, then?”

They went back to bickering good-naturedly for the rest of lunch.

~

History. Three hours to go.

Math. Two hours to go.

End of school. One hour to go.

Stiles and Scott met up at the front doors of the school. They checked their timers.

“Fifty-seven minutes and… eight seconds,” Scott announced.

Stiles’ heart was racing from anticipation. “Where should we go?” he asked.

Scott looked around. “You know,” he said, “I could really go for a donut right now.”

Stiles grinned. “Sweet Shop it is.”

~

The Sweet Shop, at this time of day, was surprisingly empty. Most students didn’t come here after school; they were more likely to go to Starbucks and mainline caffeine. And since most adults were still at work, it meant Stiles and Scott had their pick of tables to sit at while they ate their plate-sized donuts.

Stiles could see Scott checking his timer every few seconds, and couldn’t stop himself doing the same. Thirty-six minutes to go.

Thirty minutes to go.

Twenty-eight minutes to go.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else,” Stiles said abruptly.

Scott grinned at him. “You can go walk around for a while if you want, you know,” he said.

Trust Scott to realize when Stiles just wanted to burn off some of his hyperactive energy. Stiles stood up. “Don’t touch my donut,” he told Scott, and headed outside.

Twenty-six minutes to go.

Twenty-four minutes to go.

Twenty-three minutes to go.

Twenty-two minutes to go.

Stiles grumbled and hit his wrist like the timer was a stubborn computer. How could time go so _slow?_

At twenty minutes, he gave up, went in, and got another donut and a cup of coffee.

“Dude, you haven’t finished the last one,” Scott said when he saw the massive chocolate-iced donut Stiles had gotten.

Stiles raised his eyebrows. “That one’s an apple fritter, heathen. There’s an _obvious_ difference.”

Scott laughed. “Okay. Does that mean I can have some of the fritter?”

“No.”

Scott laughed again. Stiles ignored him except to smack his hand when it reached for his plate. He dumped sugar and creamer into his coffee, stirred it up, and took a big gulp that scalded his mouth and throat on the way down.

Sixteen minutes to go.

The coffee had the desired effect of dampening his ADHD symptoms, but he was still jittery, his knee bouncing under the table. He took a huge bite of his fritter and almost choked trying to swallow it too fast. Scott pounded him on the back.

Twelve minutes to go.

He finished his coffee and got another cup, finished both his donuts, and went back to the parking lot to pace again.

Seven minutes to go.

He tried to think what his soulmate would be like. He watched the cars coming into the Sweet Shop parking lot for any that had two people about their age inside. None.

Five minutes to go.

Maybe he and Scott should have split up. Maybe their soulmates would get there separately and they’d just meet at the same time. Maybe the timers, despite everything, were _wrong_.

Two minutes to go.

He went back inside and sat across from Scott. He lasted a full minute before abruptly announcing, “I’m getting another donut. You want one?”

Scott nodded. “Yeah. I’ll come with you, actually. I don’t know what kinds are left.”

Stiles nodded and stood up, Scott right beside him.

Thirty seconds to go.

The girl manning the counter had vanished into the back room when neither of them was looking. Stiles turned on his heel, looking at the rest of the customers. There was no one new. Their soulmates weren’t here.

Twelve seconds to go.

Stiles was torn between anticipation and terror. What if the timers were wrong? What would happen then?

Seven seconds to go.

Scott rang the bell to get someone’s attention.

Three seconds to go.

A new employee came out of the back room. Apparently the reason the girl had disappeared was that it was the end of her shift. This guy was a few years older than them, not much taller than Stiles but broader through the shoulders. Three-day-old stubble covered his cheeks and chin, and despite the dark color of his hair his eyes were light, bright and piercing.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

Stiles’ timer buzzed against his wrist. He looked down.

**00:00:00**

He looked at Scott, who showed him his, wide-eyed.

**00:00:00**

Stiles looked at the man. _Derek,_ his name tag read. Slowly, like he was afraid to know, Derek looked at his own timer and showed it to them.

**00:00:00**

Scott opened and closed his mouth several times like a fish. Stiles’ eyes were wide, and his own mouth was open too. This was—

“What?” Scott asked.

Yeah. That just about summed it up.

Things clicked in Stiles’ brain all at once. It was unheard of outside some fringe romance novels, but it had happened. He grinned and held out a hand to Derek across the counter. “I’m Stiles,” he said, “and this is Scott. Nice to meet you.”

Derek shook his hand. He still looked slightly terrified, but there was a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Derek,” he said. “You too.”

“This is impossible,” Scott whispered as he shook Derek’s hand as well.

“The timers never fail,” Derek and Stiles said in unison.

Scott shook his head, but he was starting to look hopeful, his bright smile creeping back onto his face.

Stiles was still grinning. As far as he was concerned, this was the absolute best possible outcome. How had he never thought of it before? Scott _was_ his soulmate. Just not his only one.

Yeah. They could make this work.

**Author's Note:**

> I have never had to say this before and it honestly disappoints me that I have to now: I welcome critique, because I always want to improve my writing. I enjoy thoughtful comments, because they tell me that I provoked thought. I enjoy short "I liked it" comments, because they inspire me to keep writing and tell me which fics people enjoy and would like to see more of. HOWEVER, any hateful comments bashing the ship, or leaving nothing constructive or useful in any way, will be deleted. The ship is clearly labeled. You have no excuse for reading if it's a NoT3 for you and less for leaving a comment if you haven't read the fic at all. I will not let people start a ship war on something I do for fun. If you only ship Sterek, I suggest you go read my works "Lost and Found", "Not-So-Fake IDs", and "His Smile Shines Brighter From A Clean-Shaven Face".


End file.
